Leaky Gut Causes Gluten Intolerance?

[Yoekie]

I have had digestive problems since a food poisoning 9 years ago. After an endoscopy, which showed no abnormalities, I assumed I had ibs. I had a blood test done and it showed intolerances for egg, lactose and gluten. This doctor (specialised in nutririon) drew the conclusion (?) that I have a leaky gut. He claims the food posoining might have damaged my bowls causes all sorts of things to get right through it in my blood so that my body reacts allergic to a lot of things (including food and medication).

His others tests showed a serotonine overproduction and a serious lack of iron (and anemia), which he relates to this 'leaky gut syndrom'. According to him, my body is allergic to gluten-lactose-egg because of this syndrom and not because of 'coeliakie disease'. He gave me probiotics to 'close' my gut and I have to follow a gluten-lactose-egg free diet for the time being. This is supposed to be temporary, when my gut is 'closed' I'm supposed to react normal to gluten-lactose-egg again.

It all sounds very weird to me. I have to take powders and pills all day long from a fitness-center store which cost a fortune and are not even real medication. Plus the doctor I usually go to has never ever heard of this 'leaky gut syndrome'. He thinks I just got 'ibs' but how about the blood test that proved intolerances?? I'm very confused.

I have followed this diet for a month now and I all I get from it is diarrea (normally I'm constipated) and -still- a lot of bloating. I don't know as to what to believe and what to do. Can anyone help?

[AliB]

There is quite a lot of credence to Leaky Gut Syndrome and I also believe that a permeable gut contributes to intolerances and allregies, but we have to be careful as there is an awful lot of stuff out there that is a waste of money.

What are you taking? What quantities? For how long?

The D certainly suggests that something may well be clearing out of your system.

You have to watch the diet with these things though. If you are still eating foods that feed the rogue bacteria and/or parasites then taking any treatments will be pointless.

Are you on a Candida diet?

Quite a few of us on here are following the Specific Carb Diet (SCD) which removes the foods that feed the pathogens and encourages gut reflorestation with good bacteria from yogurt and probiotics.

Certainly taking natural anti-fungals and anti-bacterials etc., may be useful but they need to be accompanied by a good diet.

[lizard00]

What kind of blood tests did he do that showed a food intolerance?

And what is "coeliakie disease"? Did he actually call it that?

As Ali said, there's a lot of stuff that is a waste. I'd be interested to hear what all he told you to take, too. I'm wondering if you're taking too much of something in all those pills and powders that is causing you to have diarrhea?

[Yoekie]

Thanks for replying!

What I'm taking:

-probiotic powder in the morning (Lactibiane Reference -Lactosefree-)

-powder that is supposed to boost my dopamine (first ingredi

[lizard00]

I asked him if I had 'celiac disease' because that's what people ask me nowadays. He said I probably do not have the 'flattened' villi that is so typical for celiac but rather 'gaps' of missings cells in my bowl. I'm not sure... how can he 'see' this in blood results?? Am I not supposed to have a biopsy to get this checked out? Should I now go to a gastroenterologist to have one?

He can't see your intestines, so to me it's negligent to assume you don't have celiac. You need to find out what tests he ran on you, because there are specific celiac tests, and if you came back elevated on some of these, that is indicative of celiac. Post your results here if they don't make sense to you, most of us are pretty good at interpreting them.

There's a lot of discussion about which came first, the leaky gut or celiac. Does one cause the other? But if you have celiac, once your gut is healed, you cannot go back to eating gluten. You'll end up back in the same place, but probably sicker. It's very important for your health that you know exactly what you're dealing with.

What kind of doctor is he? (Since you said he's not the regular one you see.) A GI would be the one to do the biopsy, but I would imagine without blood work indicating a need for it, it's going to be a difficult task. Another reason to get your blood work!!

[AliB]

The fact that you have allergies or intolerances themselves are a good indicator of the Leaky Gut - unless the proteins and undigested food particles can get through the gut wall you would not have any reactions.

The supplements in themselves seem pretty reasonable for encouraging recovery although some of them can be very expensive depending on where you get them - I am not sure how much better their Omega 3 capsules would be than Cod Liver oil from your local pharmacy or Tesco!

Why the iron? Are you anemic?

The thing is that malabsorption happens because of damage to the gut. Only by eating foods that encourage healing can we start to reabsorb nutrients properly.

My Mum was anemic all her life - I so wish I had known about the gluten connection and the SCD years ago.

[Yoekie]

The doctor I went to is a GP specialised in nutrition. I don't have the kind of results that are chinese to me, like you're all talking about with Q's and such.

The results of the bloodtests say:

specific IgG (what is IgG?)

F 245-Egg ++ 68.0

F 76-Lactalbumine + 20.7

F 77-B-Lactoglubine 13.3

F 78-Caseine 14.1

F 4-Wheat 15.0

F 79-Gluten ++ 22.1

(++ positif)

Is the only way to know if you're a celiac, doing a gastroscopie? I'm not sure if I can go through with that because I have emetophobia. Is there any other way you can find out for sure?

And yes I'm anemic. And very seriously so, I was on the edge of needing a bloodtransfusion. My LDL cholesterol is too high, so is my serotonine, albumine and AA (omega 3). He says my body is in a constant state of inflammation. And I'm seriously underweight, my metablic age is 12 (I'm 23).

[lizard00]

The doctor I went to is a GP specialised in nutrition. I don't have the kind of results that are chinese to me, like you're all talking about with Q's and such.

The results of the bloodtests say:

specific IgG (what is IgG?)

F 245-Egg ++ 68.0

F 76-Lactalbumine + 20.7

F 77-B-Lactoglubine 13.3

F 78-Caseine 14.1

F 4-Wheat 15.0

F 79-Gluten ++ 22.1

(++ positif)

Is the only way to know if you're a celiac, doing a gastroscopie? I'm not sure if I can go through with that because I have emetophobia. Is there any other way you can find out for sure?

And yes I'm anemic. And very seriously so, I was on the edge of needing a bloodtransfusion. My LDL cholesterol is too high, so is my serotonine, albumine and AA (omega 3). He says my body is in a constant state of inflammation. And I'm seriously underweight, my metablic age is 12 (I'm 23).

IgG is an antibody involved in an immune response. Your doctor really should have tested your IgA, as this is the most specific for celiac. However, a positive IgG to gluten can be indicative of celiac. To me, you sound classic celiac. (severe anemia, seriously underweight, lactose intolerance, digestive problems...)

I REALLY think you should pursue this further. For a biopsy, you would be sedated. (here in the States, anyway) There is a pill cam, too, which you swallow, but I'm not sure if it's replacing this EGD yet...

[AliB]

I too was very gluten and egg intolerant nearly a year ago when I first picked up on the gluten connection - in fact there was very little my digestion could cope with, but gluten-based carbs, carbs in general and eggs were definite no-nos.

As my gut has been healing through being on the SCD over the last 9 months gradually I have been able to introduce more foods. The egg intolerance cleared up pretty quickly - within a few weeks and I now no longer react to gluten, although I won't eat it until I am sure my gut has completely healed.

I still have some issues with carb digestion and 'heavy' protein like beef and pork, unless finely minced so I am taking Betaine to help with that, but each month that goes by I see progress from the last. As long as I am moving forward, I don't care how long it takes!

I eat very little gluten-free foods because I know they keep the damage going, as do any complex carbs. Although later biopsies done after being gluten-free for some time seems to show that inflammation has settled, I am not sure that the villi actually restore properly and it seems, by the fact that many do continue to react to gluten that the Leaky Gut does not heal either.

That is why I prefer to avoid as much processed food, including gluten-free because not only can I not digest it, it is also damaging my body.

You could try for a Celiac diagnosis, but I am not sure that you would be any better off. I reacted badly to gluten but my diagnosis was negative. Gluten Intolerance is Gluten Intolerance whether you are Celiac or not and the only real way to find out is to allow the body to heal properly, then try re-introducing gluten at a later stage.

The body has a fantastic ability to heal itself - if we give it the chance.

So much of our modern food is processed to within an inch of its life. It is mucked about with. It has chemicals added to it (a report in the newspaper yesterday said that processed ham and bacon has carcinogenic phosphates in it - what took them so long to work that out??? I wonder how long it will take them to realise that nitrates are doing the same thing!?). A lot of the processing changes elements in the food into toxic forms that damage the body. It destroys vital nutrients and enzymes. Some 'foods' actually are not just 'empty' calories, they are 'negative' calories - they actually rob the body of its vital elements.

The only way to help the body and the gut heal is to get back to basics. Remove anything that will do more harm than good. Remove anything processed. Remove high-carb foods (which most gluten-free is) and sugars that encourage rogue bacteria and parasites, and concentrate on good wholesome and preferably organic meat, fish and poultry, fresh vegetables and fruit, nuts, raw honey and plain 24-hour cultured probiotic yogurt for Gut 'reflorestation'.

Oh! Now isn't that exactly what the Specific Carbohydrate diet does............?

PS. The food poisoning almost certainly upset and damaged your gut flora. Many things can destroy the good bacteria - stress and trauma, anti-biotics and other prescription (and non-prescription) drugs, accident, etc. If the gut flora is good then we are unlikely to get things like food-poisoning as the good guys and the immune system would normally see them off, but a compromised flora, just like a decimated army, will have gaps for opportunists to fill or even take over, which is often how Candida works. It is possible too that your gut flora was already compromised before the food poisoning from some other issue and that is why you ended up succumbing to it.

Candida will definitely put the body into a constant inflammative state. It is very good at that too because the immune system wears itself out trying to fight it all the time. The body raises the basal temperature at the site of the infection to try and kill the bacteria which is what causes the inflammation.

You probably have Adrenal Fatigue too as they struggle to support the Immune system. Proteins in a pathogen like Candida can apparently mimic certain proteins in different areas in the body and that can trigger auto-immune reactions as the Immune System tries to destroy the pathogen/s. Boy, is it evil..........

[GFLady]

What is SCD?? I wanna know about it.I am gluten free, but still have sympthoms, but I am much better off without the gluten. I am suspecting that there are indeed other allergies involved. My doctor requested a stool test, that showed Candida and other bowel problems. It wasn`t a test for celiacs. I have never been tested for that. Is that a problem?

I have been to a nurse, who is working with your body differently than doctors, I guess in a more natural way, and finds out more than many doctors. She has helped me a LOT, but then again, she can`t do all those biopsys and tests. She did check my blood with the microscope, and found yeast in there, which is the Candida, and put me on the Candida diet. I hated it, but it has helped. However, I haven`t been able to discern all food allergies just with the diet. And I guess, my other problem is, that I just don`t want to accept the fact, that I have to avoid not just all gluten, but all dairy, SUGAR and anything that is fermented (like vinegar), because they all feed that yeast. When I followed this strictly, I got better in about 3 months. But I became undisciplined again, it came back. I need some support. I feel so deprived of not being able to eat anything. I wanna be healthy though.

[Ken70]

There is a one hour video at www.mercola.com regarding vitmin D and the role it plays in hundreds of health problems. It is worth watching.

You've gotten some good advice. A strict diet that includes some probitics and some light exercise (enough to sweat) and sunlight as well as a reduction in your stress levels are all factors I would consider in trying to recover. Probiotics alone or diet alone probably won't solve all of your issues. The best approach is probably a multi faceted one.

Good luck

PS - It took me six months and now I can eat what I want again but I never had permanent villi damage (celiac).

[AliB]

What is SCD?? I wanna know about it.I am gluten free, but still have sympthoms, but I am much better off without the gluten. I am suspecting that there are indeed other allergies involved. My doctor requested a stool test, that showed Candida and other bowel problems. It wasn`t a test for celiacs. I have never been tested for that. Is that a problem?

I have been to a nurse, who is working with your body differently than doctors, I guess in a more natural way, and finds out more than many doctors. She has helped me a LOT, but then again, she can`t do all those biopsys and tests. She did check my blood with the microscope, and found yeast in there, which is the Candida, and put me on the Candida diet. I hated it, but it has helped. However, I haven`t been able to discern all food allergies just with the diet. And I guess, my other problem is, that I just don`t want to accept the fact, that I have to avoid not just all gluten, but all dairy, SUGAR and anything that is fermented (like vinegar), because they all feed that yeast. When I followed this strictly, I got better in about 3 months. But I became undisciplined again, it came back. I need some support. I feel so deprived of not being able to eat anything. I wanna be healthy though.

Quite a few of us on here are following the SCD and getting good results. Although it is a long-term healing diet there are plenty good things to eat on it, although it does involve more prep and cooking than plain gluten-free because it cuts out the processed 'off the shelf' foods, gluten-free or otherwise, that are do damaging to the body.

As you have got the mastery over Candida but have seen it come back, you know the value of sticking to a good diet.

There is an SCD thread on this section, and the official site is 'breaking the vicious cycle'. 'Pecanbread' is also a good site to look at. It is aimed at kids with Autism, but the info is useful for all, kids and adults alike, with any health issues, as many of these things are triggered by Candida and its ilk. There are quite a few books out now and other SCD websites as it is becoming more widely know about and helps more people recover.

Although you are Gluten intolerant you may not be Celiac, I was intolerant (but am now no longer since being on the SCD, but I wont eat it for some time until I am certain my gut has completely healed and then only occasionally). I actually believe that Celiac is actually just a manifestation of a higher level or different area of gut damage (at this point someone will undoubtedly shoot me down in flames!)

I believe that the gluten intolerance/Celiac is caused by Leaky Gut. Eating gluten-free foods keeps the cycle of damage going so those who are very intolerant will continue to be intolerant until they change their diet and cut out the foods that are contributing to the damage, and give their body a chance to heal properly.

Gluten intolerance is still gluten intolerance whether you are diagnosed 'Celiac' or not.

Ali.

[Yoekie]

Wow, many intresting things have been said here!!

I had actually picked up a bug just before the food poisoning happened. So it's possible my gut was still 'in a weaker state' than normally. My mom and sis had eaten the same thing, my sis was only sick for a day. My mom for a month but she'd already had many bowl problems before.

I have found out, just last week, that I DO have less trouble digesting a lunch that is based on 'raw' and unprocessed ingredi

[purple]

Just wondering...do you or your mom have mercury fillings? And did you get all your childhood vaccinations? Thanks.

[AliB]

I do keep alternative medicine at arms length so I don't believe in candida, but I do am open to the idea that we don't need to put our body under a microscope and know everything about it, to get better. Maybe we should actually just listen to it and hear what it needs and what it doesn't. Or maybe that's just anxiety (for a biopsy) speaking here. I don't know about that but I think you are right Ali, gluten intolerance is gluten intolerance, whether it is 'celiac disease' or not. And that leaky gut is the same thing: damage, of a different sort but with the same result. And the same diet.

Yoekie, the thing is whether you believe in it or not, Candida exists. It is medically documented. Granted, a lot of doctors consider it of little importance, but they said the same thing about Chronic Fatigue and Fibromyalgia. Just because they don't accept something doesn't mean that it doesn't exist.

Although, yes there is a lot of quackery out there, there are also a lot of very genuine alternative practitioners who have a lot of knowledge. Just as finding a good Medical Practitioner with the right knowledge can be like finding a needle in a haystack, so can be the same with an alternative, but they are out there.

I think they can compliment each other and would, admirably, if the whole thing was properly organised. Even our Queen and Prince Charles believe in the credence of Alternative Practitioners.

Regardless of that, we can see the impact of Candida without having to look too far. Thrush, oral and vaginal, 'jock-itch', athlete's foot, dandruff, fungal nail infections, halitosis, white coated tongue, etc., are all indicators of a very yeast-based bodily environment and Candida will be a predominant factor. If anyone is unsure if it is an issue for them all they have to do is the spit test.

No, maybe we don't need to put our bodies under a microscope to figure out what is going on, but it is useful to be able to figure it out from those who have. The more research I do about my body and how it works, the more amazed I am at the intelligent design behind it. The body has such amazing powers of recovery - if we let it and if we support it and if we don't put stuff in our mouth that makes it sick.

Yes, we need to be able to read the signals, but we need to know what the signals are telling us in the first place. I think the one that hits me the most is the tonsils. When tonsils keep getting inflamed, what do we do? We get them taken out. Inflamed tonsils are telling us that our body is toxic and we need to detoxify. Continuously inflamed tonsils are telling us that we are extremely toxic and desperately need to detox.

Taking them out is like saying 'well, we can't figure out why you keep getting headaches, we'll just have to cut your head off'!!!

I am the opposite to you. I have little or no faith in Allopathic Medicine. I would rather trust an Alternative (if I can find the right one). Every contact I have with MD's whittles my faith in them that little bit more. They have done little to help me and mine. They had years to pick up the gluten/celiac connection with my Mum but it did not happen until 4 weeks before she died when all her organs had failed and it was too late.

To be quite honest, at this stage of my life I have far more trust in my own 'common sense' knowledge base, analytical skills and research ability than I do in any of the 'experts'............

If you want 'medical research' evidence of Candida, have a look at the following document...

Open Original Shared Link

Ali.

[Yoekie]

purple: No I did not have all my childhood vaccinations and no I have no fillings. I skipped the rubella vaccination. I don't see the link with bowl problems?

Ali: my skepticism towards candida is based on my sister's experience. She did the diet and it didn't do anything for her. She's gone all the way on the 'alternative track' to no avail. So I'm like 'I can better learn from her experiences'. But traditional medicine does not have all the answers either, fact!

[AliB]

I do think that we have to keep a bit of an open mind about any of these treatments. Although I am sure that many of the health 'experts' have certain things right, none of them have them all right all of the time.

We are all different and although there are likely to be similarities there will also be many differences too. Some will follow the SCD and completely recover, others won't. I think that whilst the principles are very good with a lot of the diets, because they advocate the removal of processed foods and the consumption of good pure foods, we have to find what is right for us as an individual. I have to say that of all the diets I have tried, the SCD has had the best effect and I think others would agree on that.

Although the SCD has been very good for me, now I can cope with much more of it I feel that I need to be eating a lot more raw food in order to further the healing process. I am still applying the SCD in principle but I need the enzymes that the raw food gives me and the cooked food doesn't. I am also coming round to thinking that perhaps the raw food will better support my body in detoxification, too.

I get, and have had for at least the last 6 years, an almost constant background 'thumping' through my body which I believe is to do with my stressed digestion. If I eat almost totally raw that goes away. I just wish the weather was warmer so that I could enjoy salads!

I have to say that although I feel that Naturopathic and holistic practitioners can be very useful (I have great faith in the power of food and herbs to heal us), there are an awful lot of them out there who also do not have all the answers, or only think they do.

My parents spent an awful lot of money with one particular practitioner who I do not feel really did them much good. At the end of the day it's down to 'caveat emptor'. You pays your money and you takes your choice, and unless you can find a practitioner with a very good track record then how do you know?

The fact that I don't have much faith in the practitioners does not decry that I still feel that 'alternative' practice has much more going for it than allopathic. Most drugs are harmful to the body in some way or other. Generally, the worst thing that can happen with most alternative treatments is that they won't work for a particular individual. But many do. It is just finding them.

I have kind of resigned myself now to only trusting in one 'expert'. Me. Through a process of elimination I am slowly finding out what my body needs. I know an awful lot more now than I did a year ago and a lot of it is down to plain common sense.

I have realised that if I want to get well I have to stop burdening my body with stuff it can't cope with and learn to recognise the signs. I realised very quickly that transferring from gluten-based cloggy carbs to gluten-free cloggy carbs was not achieving anything. I need to eat 'clean' foods. In order to be clean, I need to eat clean. Difficult in this system the way it is as everything seems to be tainted with pollution of some kind, but I have to keep fighting against it all otherwise I might as well just give in and go under, and I'm not gonna let that happen.

[Jaimepsalm63]

Yoekie, I would see a good gastro doc. I know mine saved my life, literally, more than once.

As for the SCD idea that's been going around...talk to your doctor before starting something like this. I talked to my gastro doc last month and he said it's not a good thing to limit certain foods out of my diet when I didn't need to. The gluten was a given and a must he said. Other things though that this diet promotes was not for me and in fact could have hurt me more if I had done it. I'm glad I spoke with him and saved myself the pain.

As for an excess of candida, yeast, in the system...this is also something you should talk to your gastro about. If you have a good doc, like mine, they listen to everything that's going on and not just the digestive stuff. Mine told my husband he had a build up of candida, so he's not totally against hearing that possibility. I didn't have it (candida build up) and again going on a diet to try and eliminate something I didn't have a problem with would have made me more sick.

My point is this, this is a great forum for people to bounce ideas back and forth. It's grand to have a forum that people can get on who have the same gut problems and know you won't feel like an idiot to ask certain questions or make certain statements. I do, however, worry when people keep promoting a certain idea/diet as though they have MEDICAL facts and MEDICAL knowledge when in reality it is based on their own experience and opinion.

ALWAYS see your doctor before trying anything with your diet. Eliminating gluten, of course, if you have Celiac is a given.

[rinne]

"Leaky Gut Causes Gluten Intolerance?"

Yup, it's a vicious cycle!

Which is why Elaine Gottschall called her book, "Breaking the Vicious Cycle". After two plus years on a strict gluten and dairy free diet and seeing only minimal improvements I began the SCD and am now seeing improvements.

What has just blown me away is that this diet was the diet recommended for Celiac disease in the first half of the twentieth century and with this diet children healed such that they were able to go on and eat wheat. So, what is Celiac if it may be cured by this diet? Unfortunately for adults with a lifetime of damage the diet will heal but you won't be able to eat gluten again, this is not such a big deal to me.

And how is it that I spent two years on a Celiac site and never heard that the SCD was a diet for healing Celiac?

The reality is many people respond positively to a gluten free diet and that is all they have to do but for those of us and there are many, some stats I saw said a third of celiacs do not heal on the gluten free diet, we have to change more than that.

I do not think of Celiac as a disease, I believe it is damage done by a toxin and that toxin is gluten. Historically gluten was not consumed except in trace quantities until about 400 A.D. and at that point the gluten content of bread would have been about 5%. Today hard spring wheat has been developed with 55% gluten content.

It was in the 1950's that several doctors came up with the idea that it was just gluten that was the problem for celiacs, this was based on observations that during the war with flour shortages some did better without it. This also ignored the work of Dr.Haas and the evidence of complete recovery.

This seems completely consistent with a medical system more invested in seeing us ill than well but then there is no profit if someone is healthy.

[Ken70]

Yoekie, I would see a good gastro doc. I know mine saved my life, literally, more than once.

As for the SCD idea that's been going around...talk to your doctor before starting something like this. I talked to my gastro doc last month and he said it's not a good thing to limit certain foods out of my diet when I didn't need to. The gluten was a given and a must he said. Other things though that this diet promotes was not for me and in fact could have hurt me more if I had done it. I'm glad I spoke with him and saved myself the pain.

I personally didn't do the SCD but I did do my own version of it which was to eat only foods found in nature that you could eat in their near natural state. It, along with some other therapies, worked. I just had a bagel for breakfast because it's all I could find this morning. Is that a good choice for someone with the propensity to have gastro neuro issues - no probably not but am I well enough at this point to eat "regular" foods.

There is NO way that the recommendations of the SCD diet can be considered controversial. If your doctor told you that then I would tell him he doesn't know what he is talking about. Bottom line is that if any of us want to get well you have to make the distinction between what is and what is not food. Check out An Eaters Manifesto by Michael Pollan for the definition of food. IF it can't be found in nature then you don't need it or want it. Hope this doesn't come off as confrontational.

[rinne]

......

There is NO way that the recommendations of the SCD diet can be considered controversial. If your doctor told you that then I would tell him he doesn't know what he is talking about. Bottom line is that if any of us want to get well you have to make the distinction between what is and what is not food. Check out An Eaters Manifesto by Michael Pollan for the definition of food. IF it can't be found in nature then you don't need it or want it. Hope this doesn't come off as confrontational.

I totally agree with this. I don't want to be confrontational either. But, given how little gastros know about diet it doesn't surprise me in the least that one would say this.

Other things though that this diet promotes was not for me and in fact could have hurt me more if I had done it.

:o

I would never suggest what someone else should or shouldn't eat, but after two and some years following a very strict gluten and dairy free diet and seeing only minimal improvement this diet of fresh and unprocessed foods - meat, fish, eggs, vegetables, fruit, nuts, yogurt and cheese is saving my life and has restored my hope that I may heal.

Besides all that it tastes SOOOOOOO good!

[rinne]

.....

My point is this, this is a great forum for people to bounce ideas back and forth. It's grand to have a forum that people can get on who have the same gut problems and know you won't feel like an idiot to ask certain questions or make certain statements. I do, however, worry when people keep promoting a certain idea/diet as though they have MEDICAL facts and MEDICAL knowledge when in reality it is based on their own experience and opinion.

ALWAYS see your doctor before trying anything with your diet. Eliminating gluten, of course, if you have Celiac is a given.

I am glad that you have had a positive experience with your gastro.

As to some, perhaps me , promoting a certain diet, I honestly don't see it any differently than you promoting your gastro. That too is based on your personal experience, there are many of us who have had negative experiences, years of misdiagnosis and other illnesses as a result of not being properly diagnosed by those "experts".

The bottom line is that each of us is responsible for our own decisions and I am grateful that I decided to trust the SCD which, by the way, does have science behind it.

[Yoekie]

The reality is many people respond positively to a gluten free diet and that is all they have to do but for those of us and there are many, some stats I saw said a third of celiacs do not heal on the gluten free diet, we have to change more than that.

I think I should find out first of all if gluten-free is doing anything for me or not. So I decided to stick to it for at least 6 months. If I see no improvement, I might give SCD a chance... but after not much more than a month, I can't know yet if I need to try anything else than just glutenfree, right? Maybe I'm in those two thirds who actually get better from going glutenfree and that's it.

However, I'll keep SCD as a second option in the back of my head (which I'm grateful for!! It's always good to know there are are other options that work for some people). I have informed my doc and she's not too fond of it but we agreed that I would let her know if I want to start, so she can examine me first and follow me up week my week. This seems like a reasonable plan to me...

First step now is to find out if I'm celiac or just intolerant because I don't know yet. I'd say... first things first.

[rinne]

.....

First step now is to find out if I'm celiac or just intolerant because I don't know yet. I'd say... first things first.

I really hope that simply gluten free works for you.

[AliB]

Yoekie, I would see a good gastro doc. I know mine saved my life, literally, more than once.

As for the SCD idea that's been going around...talk to your doctor before starting something like this. I talked to my gastro doc last month and he said it's not a good thing to limit certain foods out of my diet when I didn't need to. The gluten was a given and a must he said. Other things though that this diet promotes was not for me and in fact could have hurt me more if I had done it. I'm glad I spoke with him and saved myself the pain.

As for an excess of candida, yeast, in the system...this is also something you should talk to your gastro about. If you have a good doc, like mine, they listen to everything that's going on and not just the digestive stuff. Mine told my husband he had a build up of candida, so he's not totally against hearing that possibility. I didn't have it (candida build up) and again going on a diet to try and eliminate something I didn't have a problem with would have made me more sick.

My point is this, this is a great forum for people to bounce ideas back and forth. It's grand to have a forum that people can get on who have the same gut problems and know you won't feel like an idiot to ask certain questions or make certain statements. I do, however, worry when people keep promoting a certain idea/diet as though they have MEDICAL facts and MEDICAL knowledge when in reality it is based on their own experience and opinion.

ALWAYS see your doctor before trying anything with your diet. Eliminating gluten, of course, if you have Celiac is a given.

Jaime - this isn't about 'promoting' the diet without 'Medical facts' or 'Medical knowledge', it is about common sense. In my experience and many others' the Medical Profession rarely considers nutrition or lack of it of any great importance. Even those who are Celiac often spend years trying to get some kind of diagnosis because 'intolerance' whether to gluten or anything else is extremely sidelined and largely ignored.

You are right when you say that there is no point following a diet if you don't need to. That would be pretty nonsensical. But there are a lot of us out there who, for whatever reason, cannot process food properly - not just gluten. If no Medical reason can be found then what other options do we have??

Like a lot of other people I am dairy intolerant - my body cannot cope with it (although that is gradually improving as I am healing). Like a lot of other people I cannot cope with carbs - sugar, grains and starches. For us, eliminating them from our diet is pretty much the only thing we can do. Eating them makes us ill.

Just like those who are gluten-intolerant need to eliminate gluten from their diet, many of us have to eliminate other foods too.

Personally I am not content just to say 'I am also intolerant of soy so I will never be able to eat it again, or corn or whatever'. I need to know WHY. Why am I intolerant of gluten? Why am I intolerant of soy? Why can I not cope with carbohydrates in general? Is there anything I can do to remedy this?

The Medical Profession can give me no answers, and I am very much not alone with that problem. There are hundreds, if not thousands of us out there floundering on our own because the Medical Profession has no answers!

As far as 'limiting' foods is concerned - I think that is down to personal concept and understanding of what is necessary. It is drummed into us by the Milk Marketing Board that we need milk for calcium. Actually there is as much calcium in a portion of broccoli as there is in a glass of milk! A bunch of parsley whizzed up with a couple apples and some water as a smoothie will give you a very generous whole day's calcium need. Those of us with reactions to dairy are able to still get plenty of calcium without it.

There are many cultures around the world that do not drink milk or have very much in the way of dairy yet are perfectly healthy. If you lived on a tropical island you would be highly unlikely to eat any kind of grain. You may have some starch, you may have a little dairy, but the bulk of your food would come from fish, vegetables and fruit.

Everything we need in the way of nutrients is provided in the natural world. Yes, grains provide the B vitamins, but so do a lot of other foods, particularly leafy green vegetables. Raw fruit and veg also provides much needed enzymes that are destroyed by cooking and processing.

The SCD is not a limitation diet - it is a damage limitation diet. I happen to believe that God, in the natural world has provided everything we need for sustenance and healing. Man however only ends up modifying, processing, adulterating and disassembling those foods to the point that they are very often damaging and negative and not actually beneficial at all. Many have posted on the forum about the problems caused by highly processed foods like soya products and corn syrup, hydrogenated and trans-fats, etc, etc.

The suggestion by your Gastro that this diet may have been damaging to you is, at the end of the day only his opinion, and it is widely recognised that many Doctors are not nutritionists. As many of us on the diet are now healing and absorbing nutrients from our food when we weren't before even on gluten-free, I fail to see quite how it could be damaging!

If you have no issues with food other than gluten, then that is fine and there is no apparent need for you to do this diet or any other as is your wish. People follow diets for all sorts of reasons. Perhaps they are vegetarian. Maybe they want to lose weight. In this case, those of us now on the diet were ill and not getting better. I reckon that is as good a reason as any other!